Tigers Tennis

WOMEN'S TENNIS LOSE CONSECUTIVE MATCHES TO OUT-OF-STATE PROGRAMS

Mar 10, 2012

Allison ClarkSports Information

LOS ANGELES—In the first of two matches on consecutive days before a two week break from competition, the Occidental College women's tennis team swept the doubles competition but were shut out in singles to lose to Vassar College 6-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Oxy (2-4-1) got off to a strong start behind the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams, both of which recorded hard fought 8-6 victories.

The No. 3 doubles pair of Katrina Gould (Davis) and Sara Chareny (South Pasadena) rounded out the 3-0 start for the Tigers with a 8-5 win over their Brewers (3-1) counterparts.

The No. 4 singles player for Oxy, Gould, lost her match (6-4, 6-2), as did her doubles partner, Chareny, playing in the No. 5 slot (6-1, 6-0).

Amber Gadsden (Yigo, Guam), playing No. 6 singles, took Lindsay Kantor of Vassar to the limit in set one, but was shut out in set two to lose the final match of the afternoon by a score of 7-5, 6-0.

"Our doubles continues to improve, setting us up for singles, but we are not taking advantage of our leads," Occidental women's tennis coach Jeffrey Normile said. "We will re-focus our attention on our singles game."

The Tigers did not have much time to regroup, taking the court again on Monday afternoon to host Kenyon College (5-2).

Oxy featured a much more balanced attack in the second match, but lost 5-4 to the Ladies.

The No. 1 doubles team of Subbiah and Buckner and No. 2 Hutton and Rachel Washtien (San Francisco) led off the match up with 8-0 and 8-2 victories, respectively.

Gould and Chareny lost 8-4 in the No. 3 match, giving Occidental a 2-1 advantage early on.

Kenyon defeated Oxy's top three singles players, but Gould rebounded in the No. 4 match (6-4, 6-2) to bring the score within striking distance with two matches remaining.

Chareny took Sam Betts of Kenyon to extra sets, eventually winning by a score of 7-6, 4-6, 10-6 to tie the match.

Gadsden, also taking her opponent to extra frames, started out with a convincing 7-5 set one win, but only took two games in the final two sets to fall 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

"We let a good chance go this time," Normile said. "I really thought after the doubles we had a good chance to win."

The Tigers will have two weeks to practice before they face Mills College on March 19 at 3:00 p.m. This will be the only match played this season at the McKinnon Family Tennis Courts on the campus of Occidental College.